News: Joss Whedon Talks The Avengers Plus New Posters

The Avengers hype machine rolls on, this week delivering some cool posters of the individual members. I shall pepper them throughout the article as we deal with the infinitely more interesting news coming out of SXSW. Joss Whedon was in Austin, Texas this week along with director Drew Goddard promoting upcoming film The Cabin In The Woods. It’s been getting great reviews but, of course, talk soon turned to Whedon’s The Avengers.

When asked about the length of the movie, Whedon answered – “My first cut was three hours long and it’s now down to 2 hours and 15 minutes, and I’m extremely proud of that. I had always intended to go over two, under two and a half. There was no way a movie with this many great actors and this much epic scope was gonna clock in under two and not feel a little anemic, somebody wasn’t gonna get their moment if that happened. But at the same time, I get very angry that romantic comedies run over two hours long, it’s like ‘Guys, that’s not okay.’ More isn’t more. I don’t want anything in the movie that shouldn’t be.”

For those hoping for a director’s cut, don’t hold your breath – “No [there won’t be a director’s cut on the DVD]. I… believe very strongly in putting the director’s cut into the theaters. I believe that the director’s cut is the best movie for the studio and the best version of the movie for the audience. I’ve never really been in a situation where I had to pull the beating heart out of something that I did. I think people get to see a lot of extraordinary extras because I did shoot a bunch of stuff that I love, but the movie is the movie I want it to be.”

We geeks love our cross-overs and references, can we expect a lot in the new film? – “There are a couple of mentions of things; we were preserving the continuity and I threw in one or two things where I’m like, ‘Well this is something one of them would say because it’s part of the Marvel universe even if it’s not a part of this movie necessarily.’ I had such a job just making the thing coherent that I didn’t have time to play a lot of games, and I’m not really a fan of that. I do think fanboys will see more in certain bits than everybody else, but ultimately I want them all to have the same experience.”

On the Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and his army – “I will say only this: It is not the Kree or the Skrulls… Those two aliens are Marvel mainstays and have enormous backstories. They have a big life of their own that just could not be contained in a film where I already had seven movie stars… The Skrulls — they can shape change. That’s a whole thing. I’ve already got Loki. He’s got magic. Once you got magic along with your Iron Man and your Black Widow — it’s a real juggling act.”

And finally, if Joss gets the opportunity to direct The Avengers 2, in what direction would he take it – “By not trying to [go bigger]. By being smaller. More personal, more painful. By being the next thing that should happen to these characters, and not just a rehash of what seemed to work the first time. By having a theme that is completely fresh and organic to itself.”

Some brilliantly candid stuff from Whedon there. I do hope he gets to do his sequel, but we know how Marvel Studios works sometimes. I’m looking forward to seeing the Avengers Assemble a little bit more each and every day.